


Grapes vs. The Nicest Olive

by Loveatfirstbook



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Lovely Little Ficlets challenge, M/M, Olives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 06:11:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3164234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loveatfirstbook/pseuds/Loveatfirstbook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pedro has to talk to someone or he thinks he'll explode. Ben was hanging out in his room on his computer when Pedro burst in and asked him to listen.</p>
<p>What would have happened if Team Love Gods Part 2 and Balthazar hadn't made an entrance in 'one foot on sea one on shore one in the boiling hot lava'.</p>
<p>Day 12 of the Lovely Little Ficlets challenge</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grapes vs. The Nicest Olive

Pedro stumbled into Ben’s room and flopped into Ben’s desk chair. He ran a hand up and down his face as if it would help collect his thoughts. It didn’t.

“Can I help you, Pedro?” Ben joked from the middle of his bed. A laptop stood open in front of him but Pedro couldn’t see the screen. Not that it mattered, Ben was probably just watching Youtube videos about cats. 

“Yes. No. Maybe?” Pedro asked. “Could you just listen for a minute? I need to vent my thoughts to someone or I’ll go crazy.”

“Sure, I’ll listen for as long as you need. Is this about Hero again? I thought we’d cleared all that up the other night,” Ben replied.

“No, it’s not about Hero this time.” Pedro sighed. How could he explain this? “It’s about Balthazar.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t know why but he was the first person to talk to me after I royally screwed up. And I’m grateful for that, that he’d still accept me as his friend even after everything. But some part of me wants something else from him.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know what, man. Like I want to hug him all the time and be close to him,” Pedro sighed, rubbing his face again. He didn’t really want to mention the dreams he’d had about kissing Balthazar that had been driving him to distraction for weeks.

Ben pondered what Pedro had disclosed for a few seconds. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say that you had a crush on Balthazar. I mean, it sounds like my relationship with Bea without kissing or arguing. That’s impossible, though.”

The boy on the chair slumped forward in a groan. “Not exactly impossible.”

“What?”

“Ben, I’m bisexual.”

Pedro studied Ben’s face as it moved from confused to surprised to teasing. “Looks like someone has a crush on Balthazar!”

“Urgh!” Pedro groaned once more. “This was what I was trying to avoid.”

“Think about it like this, my friend. So far you’ve only ever dated grapes and along came an olive,” Ben began.

“Do all your stories and analogies involve birds or olives?” Pedro interrupted.

“Why yes they do because they’re awesome,” Ben countered. “So this olive is the nicest olive you’ve ever seen, practically perfect, and for the first time you want an olive instead of the grape. You’re used to grapes and you don’t want to mess up your relationship with the olive. You still want the olive, though.”

“You’re losing me, Ben.”

Benedick sighed. “Pedro, if you want to go out with Balthazar, go for it. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure Balthazar wouldn’t mind going back to friends. If it does work out, you’ll both be happily together. As far as I can see, it’s win-win.”

The possibilities he’d never considered bombarded Pedro’s brain. Could it all work out the way Ben said? Would Balthazar even say yes if he asked? Nothing was certain anymore but the prospects were exhilarating. 

“Thanks for being a sounding board, Ben. I think I’ll ask him out,” Pedro grinned.

“Took you long enough!” A voice Pedro recognised came out of nowhere. Oh, no. Where was Bea and, more importantly, how much of this had Bea heard? Pedro moved to run out the door. “Ben, turn around the computer so I can talk to him. Don’t go anywhere, Pedro, because we need to talk.”

He couldn’t turn down an opportunity to talk to Beatrice again, not if there was a chance she would be willing to forgive him. Facing her would also be less daunting than facing Balthazar at the moment so he chose the former. “Okay.”

The desk chair was not as comfortable as it was moments ago. “Before I say anything else, you should know that we’re still friends but it’s going to take some time before I can trust you again.” A single sentence took so much weight from his shoulders. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Balthazar, though! We’ve been friends for eight years and it’s never come up before?”

The back of Pedro’s neck began to itch so his arm swung the wide arch to reach it. “My realisation was kind of a recent development.”

“That’s no excuse for not telling me first!”

“This is the first time you’ve talked to me since I found out.”

Bea mulled it over before dismissing any further questioning. “I’ll let you get away with it this time. But if you two turn into a mushy couple, Ben and I are going to tease you mercilessly,” she grinned.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he returned. 

“Now go, Pedro, and talk to Balthazar,” Ben ordered. 

Pedro strode out of Ben’s house with his head held higher than it had been in weeks. Everything was falling back into place and, if Balthazar agreed to try it, things were on their way to being even better.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I stretched that prompt a bit far. Bea might be a bit OOC but it's Pedro's fault for assuming Ben was just on Youtube. 
> 
> Have a great day and enjoy!


End file.
